Dana White believes the UFC’s first night on Paramount+ delivered exactly what the promotion hoped for and possibly more.
After the UFC’s broadcast deal with ESPN expired, the promotion locked in a seven-year, $7.7 billion streaming agreement with Paramount, officially ending the traditional pay-per-view era. UFC 324 on Saturday marked the company’s first event under the new deal, and while exact streaming numbers aren’t in yet, White says early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“I just talked to Ari [Emanuel],” White said during the UFC 324 post-fight press conference. “Ari said we’ll have numbers on Monday or Tuesday. This exceeded expectations beyond belief for Paramount. We know it killed it—we just don’t know the exact number yet. They’re saying it exceeded by double.”
UFC 324 was headlined by an interim lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett. The bout went the distance, with Gaethje earning a unanimous decision to claim the interim belt. The win positions Gaethje for a title unification bout against undisputed champion Ilia Topuria, who is currently on hiatus.
The card originally planned to feature Amanda Nunes’ long-awaited return against Kayla Harrison for the women’s bantamweight title, but Harrison’s neck surgery scrapped the matchup. As a result, former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley and Song Yadong stepped into the co-main event slot, where O’Malley picked up a much-needed unanimous decision victory. “Suga” now appears focused on earning a rematch with current champion Petr Yan.
Elsewhere on the card, No. 5-ranked heavyweight Waldo Cortes-Acosta stopped Derrick Lewis via second-round TKO, extending his winning streak to three and spoiling the night for “The Black Beast.”
Dana White explains UFC’s revamped bonus structure. The Paramount+ era also ushered in a major overhaul of the UFC’s bonus system. Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses doubled from $50,000 to $100,000, while every finish now guarantees a $25,000 bonus.
Still, Dana White made it clear that fighters were quietly earning extra money long before the change, just not in a public way.
“So what has been happening forever in the company, since we started this company, is every night I would tell you guys, ‘Oh, these guys won these bonuses,’” White explained. “But everybody on the card would get a check for different dollar amounts depending on how they fought—ranging anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000. Every event.”
“So those are going away,” White added. “And now finishes will get a $25,000 bonus.”
During the Fertitta era, locker room bonuses were legendary, sometimes eclipsing fighters’ contracted purses. Randy Couture famously received a $500,000 bonus, while Daniel Cormier pocketed multiple six- and seven-figure payouts. Those massive discretionary bonuses faded after Endeavor acquired the UFC in 2016, replaced by a more structured, but smaller, system.
The upside of the new model is clarity. Fighters no longer have to guess whether they’ll receive $3,000 or $10,000 based on internal opinions. Finish the fight, earn $25,000, simple and transparent.
For entry-level fighters earning $10,000 to show and $10,000 to win, that bonus can be career-changing. While questions remain about base pay increases after years of stagnation, the revamped bonus structure represents a meaningful step forward as the UFC begins a new chapter under Dana White on Paramount+.
